BtVS: Judgement Day
by Antonio Cabaas
Summary: Two days before the Judgement Day, the Slayers began to have weird dreams about the upcoming apocalypse
1. Default Chapter

Judgement Day  
  
Chapter One of Three  
  
A Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Terminator 3 crossover by Antonio Cabañas  
  
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and all related characters were created and are owned by Joss Whedon. Terminator and all related characters owned by C2 Productions.  
  
E-mail: borg31de777@yahoo.es.  
  
Spoilers: Buffy to season 7, Angel to season 5, although probably would qualify as AU. Great spoilers for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.  
  
Author Note: I am following my own Terminator timeline in this story. According to my timeline, The Terminator is set in 1980 (John Connor being born in 1981), Terminator 2 in 1993, and Terminator 3 in 2003. I know that there are inconsistencies, but this is my best attempt to reconcile them.  
  
Summary: two days before the Judgement Day, Buffy, now in San Francisco, began to have dreams about the incoming war.  
  
TWO DAYS BEFORE THE JUDGEMENT DAY  
  
A rented flat in San Francisco. 06:56   
  
Buffy Summers awoke suddenly. She had had a weird and terrifying nightmare about a post-nuclear holocaust world where machines were killing the human survivors. "That's odd," she thought. She was used to dream about upcoming apocalypses, but they were always magical, not human-caused ones.  
  
Then she heard a scream from Dawn's room. She ran and found Dawn trembling.  
  
- Killer machines... Nuclear war... - she was saying, as if in shock.  
  
- It had been only a dream... Only a dream - said Buffy, comforting her sister. "Not only a dream. I have to talk to Giles."  
  
Ruins of Sunnydale. 07:03   
  
The car was beginning to leave behind the last remains of Sunnydale when the cell phone of Giles rang. The two girls, two of the former Potentials that were now Slayers, who were sleeping in the back seat didn't awake to the sound. Giles caught the phone and saw that it was the cell phone of Buffy.  
  
- Buffy? - said in a hushed voice  
  
- Giles, I have had a weird dream tonight, and it seems that Dawn did, also. Had Rhona and Shirley...? -  
  
- Buffy, we have ended our check of the Hellmouth half an hour ago. Rhona and Shirley are sleeping in the back seats of my car.  
  
- Ok, ask them when they awake. I'm going to call Angel, to check if somebody there has had the same dream. -  
  
Los Angeles. 07:08   
  
- Buffy? What? - said Angel in the phone - Please repeat that more slowly... Aha, you and Dawn have had a weird dream... a post-apocalyptic world... killer robots murdering humans in droves... seems just from a movie. I will ask Faith if she has had the same dream. -  
  
Washington DC 07:30   
  
- Sit down, Lieutenant Finn, Mrs. Finn. - said general Jackson.  
  
- Thank you, sir. - said Riley and Sam.   
  
- I suppose that you are wondering why are you here, and why your unit has been put in alert. -  
  
- Yes, sir. If I have to be candid, I have been wondering about it. -  
  
The general produced two pictures. One was of a scruffy man on his early twenties and the other was of a well-built man dressed in black leather, wearing sunglasses, with an assault rifle in one hand and a sawed-off riot gun in the other.  
  
- The young man is John Connor, he is linked to the destruction of the main factory of Cyberdine Systems in L.A. in 1993. After that he gained some reputation as a hacker. He disappeared in 1997, but the FBI had found his track recently, and thinks that he is behind that virus that is causing so many problems these last few days. They have mounted an operation to capture him in L.A., where they think that he is headed. -  
  
- Excuse me, sir, but I don't see the need to... -  
  
- The older man is the real reason for you being here. This man has been always seen around John Connor or her mother, Sarah Connor, who died 6 years ago. Reportedly, more than twenty years ago he began to kill all Sarah Connors from the phone guide of L.A. and reportedly assaulted a commissary where Sarah Connor, I'm referring to the mother of John, was. He killed all the cops and if a loon that had been stalking Connor hadn't been there detained, she would have died. The FBI lose track of him for 13 years, and then he reappears as some sort of bodyguard of John Connor, and helping Sarah Connor to escape from Pescadero, apart from the Cyberdine assault, of course. He hasn't been seen since then, but if he is still with Connor... He is not human, Finn. Witnesses had seen him get up after a sawed-off shotgun blast... at point blank range. Even the HRT would be hard-pressed against him. Your task will be serving as support of the FBI in this matter. -  
  
San Francisco Airport. 08:34   
  
- I don't know, Willow. It was like one of those strange dreams that we, the Slayers, have. -   
  
- As we have come here to see Buffy, we could ask her if she have had the dream also. -  
  
Buffy Summers flat. San Francisco. 08:47   
  
- Faith? Ah, Angel told you that I wanted to talk with you. Last night, Dawn and me had a weird dream about a post-apocalyptic world... You too? With killing machines and skeleton-looking robots also? - Buffy paused a moment. - Before your call I was worried, now I'm frightened. - Buffy listened what Faith was telling her. - Very well, if Angel glean some info from the Oracle, call me. Willow comes here today and I'm going to ask her to investigate a bit. -  
  
A motel near L.A. 08:51   
  
- Buffy called me almost two hours ago and told me that she had had a dream like the one that you have described to me. - said Giles to the two girls.  
  
Buffy Summers flat. San Francisco 09:51   
  
Dawn hugged Xander after she let him enter the flat.   
  
- Hi, Dawnie. Where is Buffy? -  
  
- She is in the shower just now. What are you doing here? I hadn't expected you until this evening. -  
  
- Buffy called me half an hour ago. She said something about a nightmare that both of you had had. - said Xander.  
  
- Yes, it was horrible... - and began to explain the nightmare.  
  
The Oracle. 10:28   
  
The place was the same that Angel remembered. After fulfilling the ritual, he went inside the smoking door. Inside the room were the two beings that always received him. Once Angel broke the subject, he obtained an unexpected answer.  
  
Buffy's flat. San Francisco 10:35   
  
The preparations for the summoning had concluded, candles had been placed in the right places, and chalk had been used to draw a weird design in the floor. Willow sat in the center of the design and began to chant. The other people in the room waited while her voice become inhumanly deep and boomed like the voice of doom. Finally, with a crescendo that threatened to break the glass of the block that chant ended.   
  
A being that seemed to be made of smoke appeared in front of the red-haired witch.  
  
- To answer a question have you summoned me, but a riddle must to be solved by you before. -  
  
Willow nodded, accepting the terms of the being.  
  
- Tell me then: you can see me, but I don't exist; I need light to be, but I'm darkness. What am I? -  
  
Willow thought some time before answering.   
  
- I think that it's a shadow. Am I right? -  
  
- Right you are, human. Your question formulate you can. -  
  
Willow proceeded to repeat the description that Buffy and Dawn had made of the dream. The being thought a moment.  
  
- If known I had that your question that would be, higher my price would have been. Dark and grim the future will be, come with me if know you want to. - the being extended what seemed an arm - My hand to touch have you, and I'll carry you to the one that explain the dream can. -  
  
After a brief moment of doubt Willow touched the hand of the being and lost consciousness almost immediately.  
  
She found herself in a white space without points of reference.  
  
- Disorienting, isn't it? - said a female voice at her back.  
  
Willow turned and saw a blonde woman in her mid thirties, with a stern and determined expression on her face, and eyes that burned wherever they looked.   
  
- Who are you? -  
  
- I have been summoned to answer your questions, but as there is another which wants answer to the same questions, can you wait a bit? -  
  
La Guardia Airport. 12:51 AM  
  
- Riley and Samantha Finn? - asked the older man.  
  
- Yes, I am. And you...? -  
  
- Special Agent Rover and Special Agent Ford. We are in charge of the capture of John Connor. -  
  
After the exchange of pleasantries, they went to the parking lot and boarded the car of the agents. They started the engine and left the parking lot toward the city.  
  
- I understand that you are part of a special ops unit, and that you are here to supplement the HRT and the local SWAT in the capture of Mr. Connor. -  
  
- Yes, we are. -  
  
Somewhere  
  
Willow heard steps and she was surprised to see Angel walking in the same whiteness that she and the mysterious woman were.  
  
- Both of you are here to know about something, tell me. - said the woman  
  
Awkwardly they began to repeat the description of the dream that Buffy and the other Slayers had had. The woman closed her eyes and sighed.   
  
- My name is Sarah Connor. - she started - When all of this started I was a waitress... -  
  
She began to tell them her story, and about the terrible future, that was awaiting them all. Hours passed outside, but to them seemed only a few minutes.  
  
- ...I thought that we had definitively ended with Skynet and the Terminators when we blew Cyberdine. But deep inside me something was telling me that we hadn't cheated fate, that the Judgement Day was awaiting us in some moment of time. -  
  
Los Angeles, FBI office. 16:01  
  
- This is the full file on John Connor? - asked Riley when he saw a folder as thick as his leg.  
  
- No, this is. - said Agent Ford placing over the table a folder even thicker. - That is the one about his mother. -  
  
Sam had begun to leaf through the Sarah Connor file and whistled surprised.  
  
- Listen, Riley. Sarah Connor hung around half a dozen of paramilitary groups, ending in the group of Travis Gant... -  
  
- We found Gant a few months ago in one of our missions. He is a psycho ex-Green Beret that works as mercenary, and a big muscle with some brain and an attitude. -  
  
- Apparently, she and Gant were lovers part of that time. After that she disappeared until she tried to blow Cyberdine, but she was captured... -   
  
After reading the psychiatric report about Sarah Connor, Riley asked.  
  
- Where is Dr. Silberman? If John shares the same paranoid fantasies than her mother... -  
  
- Unfortunately, Dr. Silberman... broke when John Connor and that guy rescued Ms. Connors from Pescadero. He has passed years in therapy, and currently works with the LAPD, but... -  
  
- Yes, I know. He could break again if we press him. -  
  
The two FBI agents had gone to speak with somebody in the LAPD and Sam and Riley were alone.  
  
- I have a bad feeling about this, Riley. -  
  
- You too? We have seen enough weird things to not think automatically that when anybody who talks about cyborgs from the future and an upcoming Apocalypse is a loon. But the date of the Judgement Day has passed and nothing happened. -  
  
- Yes, I know. But I would feel better if we hadn't heard something about a "Project Sky Net" some months ago in the Pentagon. -  
  
Buffy's flat. 23:57  
  
Willow finally awoke.  
  
- Willow! - said Kennedy, who had been at her side the last hours. Kennedy gave her a glass of water. - Have you found what those dreams meant? -  
  
Willow nodded and said.  
  
- The Judgement Day is coming. -  
  
TO BE CONTINUED  
  
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	2. Chapter 2A: One day to the Judgement Day...

Judgement Day  
  
Chapter Two (Part A) of Three  
  
A Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Terminator 3 crossover by Antonio Cabañas  
  
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and all related characters were created and are owned by Joss Whedon. Terminator and all related characters owned by C2 Productions.   
  
E-mail: borg31de777@yahoo.es.  
  
Spoilers: Buffy to season 7, Angel to season 5, although probably would qualify as AU. Great spoilers for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.  
  
Author Note: I am following my own Terminator timeline in this story. According to my timeline, The Terminator is set in 1980 (John Connor being born in 1981), Terminator 2 in 1993, and Terminator 3 in 2003. I know that there are inconsistencies, but this is my best attempt to reconcile them.  
  
I wish to thank my beta-reader, Carycomix, by his help and support, and I wish to thank Shadowhawk the info that he provided me about the world of Terminator (and his own creation, the T-900).  
  
Summary: two days before the Judgement Day, Buffy, now in San Francisco, began to have dreams about the incoming war.  
  
ONE DAY BEFORE THE JUDGEMENT DAY  
  
Los Angeles 00:47  
  
- ...so that is all of it - said Angel to the others.  
  
- That explains some things. - said Gunn. - I have heard in the streets that a lot of demons and vampires have left the city. I could ask some questions... -  
  
- Ok. Do you know some hackers, by the way? -  
  
- Yes, although I don't like them specially, they are a bunch of freaks. -  
  
- I think that you could ask them some questions about that damned computer virus. I suspect that it could be related to Skynet. -  
  
  
  
San Francisco 01:21  
  
Willow sipped her tea while she considered what she had been told by the spirit of Sarah Connor. They had to know when it was going to be the Judgement Day, and if it was on their hand, avoid it. Skynet. That was the key. A secret military project, she wondered if Riley might know something about it.   
  
- Am I interrupting something? - said Xander when he entered the kitchen.  
  
Willow smiled and shook her head.  
  
- Sit down, please. I was thinking about the things that Sarah Connor said to Angel and me, and wondering if Riley could know something about Skynet. After all, Skynet was... is supposedly a secret military project. -  
  
- I doubt it. If it's so secret the security clearance must be really high to be briefed about it. - the odd look that Willow directed to him made him add almost defensively. - Hey, I have read a lot of Tom Clancy. -  
  
- Oh. - said Willow. - Where is Buffy? -  
  
- She is taking a nap in her bedroom. -  
  
In Buffy's bedroom, Buffy was sleeping, but she wasn't having pleasant dreams.   
  
She was dreaming of downtown L.A. Noon on a hot summer day. The lunchtime crowd stacked up into a wall of humanity. They moved in herds among the glittering rows of cars, jammed bumper to bumper. Heat ripples distorted the torrent of faces. The image is surreal, dreamy... and like a dream it dissolved to the image of a city in ruins by night. The same spot as before, but now it was a landscape in Hell. The cars were stopped in rusted rows, still bumper to bumper. The skyline of buildings beyond had been shattered by some unimaginable force, like a row of kicked-down sandcastles. Wind blew through the desolation, keening with the sound of ten million dead souls. It scurried the ashes into drifts, stark white in the moonlight against the charred rubble. She saw a heap of fire-blackened human bones. Beyond the mound was a vast tundra of skulls and shattered concrete. The rush hour crowd burned down in their tracks. The dream images carried her to a playground... where intense heat had half-melted the jungle gym, the blast had warped the swing set, the merry-go-round had sagged in the firestorm. Small skulls looked accusingly from the ash-drifts. She heard the distant echo of children's voices... playing and laughing in the sun. A silly, sing-songy rhymed as she advanced slowly... - how? was she a bodiless spirit in this dream? - ...over seared asphalt where the faint hieroglyphs of hopscotch lines were still visible.  
  
Her gaze came to rest on a burnt and rusted tricycle... next to the tiny skull of its owner. Then she heard a female voice speaking:  
  
- 3 billion human lives ended on the war that the survivors of the nuclear fire called the Judgement Day. They lived only to face a new nightmare, the war against the Machines... -  
  
A metal foot crushed the skull like china.  
  
She looked up, and saw a humanoid machine holding a massive battle rifle. It looked like a chrome skeleton... a high-tech Death figure. Its glowing red eyes compassionlessly swept the dead terrain, hunting.  
  
She heard the sounds of roaring turbines. Searchlights blazed down as a formation of flying patrol machines passed overhead. Somehow she followed them toward the jagged horizon, beyond which she saw flashes, and heard the distant thunder of a pitched battle in progress.  
  
Suddenly she found herself in the midst of the battle. Human troops in desperate combat with the machines for possession of the dead Earth. The humans were a ragtag guerrilla army. Skynet's weapons consisted of tank-like robot gun-platforms, flying patrol machines like the ones that she had seen before, four-legged gun-pods, and the humanoid terminators in various forms.  
  
She seemed to be in all places, because she was seeing events in different places of the battle:  
  
Explosions! Beam-weapons firing like searing strobe-light.  
  
A gunner in an armored personnel carrier fired a LAW rocket at a pursuing flying machine, bringing it down in a fiery explosion.  
  
Another APC was crushed under the treads of a massive robot  
  
A team of guerrillas were in an intense fire-fight with terminator endoskeletons in the ruins of a building. Three terminator endoskeletons advanced, firing rapidly. Another (complete cyborg), with flesh ripped open and back broken, groped for a rifle on the ground.  
  
A four-legged gun-pod overran a human firing position. Soldiers were cut down as they run. Fiery explosions lighted the ranks of advancing machines.  
  
In a blasted gun emplacement at the edge of battle, a man watched the combat with night-vision binoculars. He wore the uniform of a guerrilla general, and a black beret. He was still amid all the running, shouting techs and officers. The man lowered the binoculars. He was forty-five years old. Features severe. The left side of his face was heavily scarred. A patch covering that eye. An impressive man, forged in the furnace of a lifetime of war. The name stitched on the band of his beret was Connor. She seemed to lose herself in those grim eyes when suddenly...  
  
...she awoke.  
  
She took a deep breath and got up of the bed.  
  
- John Connor. Who could have said that would be him? - said Buffy smiling sadly.  
  
On the kitchen Xander and Willow were now talking about what they could do:  
  
- I know a witch here, in San Francisco, who is something like a seer. - said Willow. - Maybe I could ask her if she has had some premonition regarding the Judgement Day. -  
  
- That's an idea. - he paused, thinking - I'm wondering... You know, some months ago I worked with a guy called John Connor in Baja, but he didn't strike me as a future leader of the people. He seemed more like the type that lives on the run, today here, tomorrow there... -  
  
- Hello! - said Buffy, entering the kitchen, and then said abruptly - I have had another dream. -  
  
She proceeded to tell them about the dream that she had just had, and finally added:  
  
- ...but the most curious thing is that I recognised him. -  
  
- Do you know John Connor? -  
  
- Yes, it was years before I became the Slayer. He was the new kid on the block, given by the social workers to a childless family, because her mother was a psycho, if I remember correctly. He disappeared at the same time that his guardians died. All of this fits with the info that Sarah gave you. -  
  
- Yes, but how that can help us. -  
  
- Well, John usually hung out with another guy, Tim something. I don't know what happened to him, because we moved to Sunnydale. But I know somebody that maybe knows, although it's too early to call her. -  
  
Los Angeles 02:12  
  
Angel entered the nightclub. It wasn't one of the places where he liked to be, but even with the upcoming apocalypse, the work had to continue. He was following the track of a quite nasty demon, which had killed at least three young women last week. If Wesley had identified the demon correctly, this night the demon would have to kill again or be destroyed by the forces that had summoned him.  
  
Some minutes later he located the demon, which had his next victim in tow. They were heading to the door, and he followed them. The woman, who could have been 19 or 20, followed the man toward a nearby building. The demon, Wesley had said, put his victims in some sort of thrall to avoid resistance.  
  
Fortunately the demon had left the door open and Angel, silently, entered the building. It was a warehouse for a nearby club. Then he heard a scream. He ran toward it and found the demon, with his real bug-like appearance. The woman was fallen, screaming as the monster neared her. Angel launched himself to knock down the demon. They started to fight, and the demon was stronger than he was, but his objective was not defeat him, but distract him enough time to let the forces that had summoned it to do their work. Minutes passed as Angel dodged the hits of the demon, using his superior speed and agility to stay outside of his reach. As the alarm on Angel's clock beeped he said:  
  
- Your time is up. -  
  
A yellow mist began to envelop the demon who started to scream, but was soon cut off when the mist enveloped him fully, at the same time that a munching sound could be heard from the mist. When the mist dissipated, only the clothes of the creature, stained with green and yellow fluids, remained.  
  
- Are you well? - asked Angel to the woman fallen on the floor while he was helping her to rise up.  
  
- Yes. What was that... thing? - she said, and began to tremble.  
  
- There are things that mankind is not meant to know, miss... -  
  
- Ander... Anderson, Liz Anderson. -  
  
Angel carried the woman to her home in his car. When she was getting out of the car, Angel gave her a business card.   
  
- Take this. If you have any problem, call me. -  
  
San Francisco 02:39  
  
- And the next objectives? - said the man in an emotionless, almost machine-like, tone to grey-clad demon standing before him.  
  
- I have dispatched a squad to deal with the three witches, master - answered the demon.  
  
- Excellent. - answered the man in the same emotionless tone as before.  
  
The demon was nervous. What kind of being was his new master? After the disaster of L.A., almost four years ago, the Scourge had been almost disbanded, and a year ago, he appeared, taking over the organisation and sending them to kill witches and psychics all over the world. His office was never at more than 10º C, and the chamber where he rested was refrigerated like a freezer. What kind of being was his master? he repeated in his mind. He wasn't human, he was sure of this, whatever his semblance might be, and sometimes he thought that he had seen a red shining in his eyes.  
  
Traffic jam near L.A. 04:27  
  
The car was trapped in the jam, as it had been for a few hours. Apparently the computer virus that had been spreading through the net last days had chosen this night to wreak havoc in the semaphore control systems of L.A.  
  
Giles was using the time to think. Buffy had told him the gist of what Sarah Connor had said to Willow when he called Buffy's flat. He knew that he had heard part of that story before, somewhere. He took his cell phone and searched one of the memorised numbers, and called.  
  
Los Angeles 08:36  
  
The guys of the FBI had provided the Finns with a secure phone and Riley was going to call somebody that he knew in the NSA.  
  
- Bob? It's me Riley. I'm in an assignment just now... A Top Secret thing, sorry... Listen, have you heard about something called Project Sky Net? ... Sam overheard something about it some weeks ago and now   
  
it had been mentioned again. And frankly, given the context, I'm a bit nervous about it . . . You'll consult with your superiors. Ok, if they want to check my security credentials, tell them to call general Jackson in the Pentagon. -  
  
Buffy Summers flat. San Francisco 09:07  
  
- Hello? Kate Brewster? I'm Buffy Summers...Well, do you remember that guy from the school, Tim? ... Yes, the one that was always with John Connor... He was killed in a gang shootout the year after I went to Sunnydale? ... I have to locate John, and Tim seemed to be my best option. So, I have to try another way. And what has happened of late? ... You and Scott are engaged? When is the wedding? ...-  
  
Buffy and Katherine Brewster chatted about banalities for a few minutes before Buffy put the phone back on its cradle.  
  
- Bad luck? - said Willow.  
  
- You could say it. - said Buffy.  
  
San Francisco. 10:09  
  
- Why everything that happen to us have to be so weird? - said Buffy.  
  
The house where the witch that they had come to see lived with her sisters had... disappeared. They had talked with the neighbours and a police officer that was investigating the event, and it seemed that before dawn, somebody had attacked the house and when the police had come, the house was no longer there. Even the foundations had disappeared.  
  
Los Angeles 10:34  
  
- Sorry for not coming before, Angel, but we were trapped in a traffic jam on the way to L.A. -  
  
- Yes, I have seen it on the news. - answered Angel - The redhead is Shirley, the girl that you discovered in Sacramento a few months ago, isn't she? -  
  
- Yes, she is. Shirley, this is Angel. -  
  
- Hi, how are you? -  
  
- Fine, thanks. - then Angel turned to Giles. - What is that so important that you couldn't tell me through the phone? -  
  
- When I heard the name of Sarah Connor and the resume of the story that Buffy gave me, I knew that I have heard part of it in something related with the Watchers Council. -  
  
- But the Watchers' Council was killed in the explosion. -  
  
- Yes, but they kept copies of the archives in another place. In the last year I have been in contact with ex-watchers that had been at odds with the Council due to their methods, in order to rebuild the Watchers, and I trusted an old friend of mine with the archives. - he paused a moment and then continued. - When we were stuck in the traffic jam, I called her and asked her to check if the name of Sarah Connor appeared on the archives. -  
  
- And...? -  
  
- The name appeared, but she said that I had to see with my own eyes what the Council had about the matter. She will arrive at La Guardia at 13:00. - then he remembered something - Where is Faith? She also found something that could of interest to her. -  
  
- She was in Baja, chasing a demon. She should be here around noon. -  
  
San Francisco 11:12  
  
Kennedy, Willow and Buddy were introduced in the office of the manager of the night-club, who was a tall and slim arrogant man, dressed with the same taste as the office, that is, none.   
  
- He is a warlock. - whispered Willow on Buffy's ear. - Although, not a very talented one. -  
  
- We want to talk with Dennis Galland, and ... -  
  
- Dennis? What do you want from him? - said the manager.  
  
- She... - Buffy pointed to Kennedy - ...and me are Vampire Slayers. You know that there is more than one now, don't you?. And she... - pointing to Willow - ... is Willow Rosenberg. - he waited a moment until the name sank into the manager's brain - I see that you recognise the name. -  
  
Los Angeles 11:17  
  
Riley was talking with Sam when the secure phone rang. He ran to answer it.  
  
- Yes, I'm Riley Finn... - he listened a while - La Guardia, at noon. OK. - and put the phone back on its cradle. - Sam, they are going to send an Air Force officer to brief us about the Sky Net Project. -  
  
Angel Investigations. Los Angeles 11:32  
  
- Hello, Wesley. How are you doing here? -  
  
- Hello, Giles. I'm doing quite well here, you know. But you haven't come here to ask only that, have you? -  
  
- No, I haven't. I am rebuilding the Watchers' Council, and to that effect I have recruited the surviving Scoobies and several ex-Watchers that, like me, had been at odds with the Council due to their methods. Do you want to join us? -  
  
- No, Giles. Maybe in the future, but not now. - he said - You have been very kind to propose that, considering what I did. -  
  
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To be continued... 


	3. Chapter 2B: One day to the Judgement Day...

Judgement Day  
  
Chapter Two of Three, Part B  
  
A Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Terminator 3 crossover by Antonio Cabañas  
  
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and all related characters were created and are owned by Joss Whedon. Terminator and all related characters owned by C2 Productions. Stargate: SG-1 is produced by Gekko Film Corp. in association with Galssner\Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-1  
  
Productions Limited Partnership for MGM-UA Worldwide Television.  
  
E-mail: borg31de777@yahoo.es.  
  
Spoilers: Buffy to season 7, Angel to season 5, although probably would qualify as AU. Great spoilers for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.  
  
Author Note: I am following my own Terminator timeline in this story. According to my timeline, The Terminator is set in 1980 (John Connor being born in 1981), Terminator 2 in 1993, and Terminator 3 in 2003. I know that there are inconsistencies, but this is my best attempt to reconcile them.  
  
I wish to thank my beta-reader, Carycomix, his help and support, and to Vito "Shadowhawk" his suggestions and his contributions to the story.  
  
Summary: two days before the Judgement Day, Buffy, now in San Francisco, began to have dreams about the incoming war.  
  
ONE DAY BEFORE THE JUDGEMENT DAY  
  
La Guardia Airport 12:06  
  
- I'm Major Samantha Carter. - said the blonde woman in a civilian dress offering her hand. - You must be Lieutenant Riley Finn and his wife Samantha. -  
  
- Yes, we are. Can we go to a less crowded place? -  
  
- Sorry, but it has to be near here. I have to be in another place soon and I have not much time to spare. - answered Major Carter.  
  
- Our car is parked here, and we made a sweep for bugs before coming here. - offered Sam.  
  
Some minutes later, they were in the Hummer that Riley and Sam were using. Sam had bought Cola while they were in the airport.  
  
- I worked in Project Sky Net between 1992 and 1995, and later, when I became part of another program, I had been there as an adviser, due to my extensive knowledge of non-standard computer technology. - she took a sip of the beverage and continued. - The purpose of the Project was two-fold, on one hand Sky Net was going to become a secure computer net for Defense, and on the other hand it was going to house a powerful A.I. program that would work as a "Big Brother" of telecommunications. Back in 1981 Cyberdine Systems, a rising star in the market of computer components and robotics, presented the project of a computer equipped with the neural processor that they were developing. Gradually the Project expanded to deal with automated weapons platforms, and a civilian version of Sky Net, some kind of super-Internet that would also be watched by the SkyNet A.I., was discussed. Except for minor problems, like the first attempt by Sarah Connor to blow the headquarters of Cyberdine, all seemed to go well until 1993...-  
  
- The Cyberdine assault. - guessed Riley.  
  
- That's it. The chief designer of the neural processor, Miles Bennet Dyson, died in the assault, after destroying all his work on that matter. And not too long after it, some info that Cyberdine had been holding fell in the hands of the heads of the project. - she took another sip of Cola and continued. - The new administration used the incident to cut back the expenses of the project and the Pentagon insisted on a close supervision of the development of Sky Net. Three years, and a lot of problems later, Cyberdine tried to gain support in a private presentation for VIPs. Something happened there, I don't know what because I no longer worked there, and soon after a virus, that seemingly was designed by John Connor, destroyed the computer systems of Cyberdine. That was the last straw for the Pentagon, and soon Cyberdine was out of the Skynet Project, which was re-evaluated and downsized. The civilian Sky Net was forgotten, the automated weapon platforms went back to the design boards, and the A.I. program was redesigned. - she ended her explanation, drank the rest of the bottle and asked - Why did you wanted to know about Sky Net? -   
  
Sam and Riley looked each other and nodded.  
  
- We work for a Special Ops unit called The Initiative, and we have been assigned to collaborate with the local police and the FBI in the capture of John Connor...-   
  
Somewhere in San Francisco 12:24  
  
The house where Dennis Galland lived had been a splendid small mansion, but now, with the garden abandoned, the paint gone, and the glass on the windows replaced by planks, the house resembled a condemned building.  
  
- Are you sure this is the place? - asked Kennedy.  
  
- Yes, this time I'm sure. - said Buffy, a bit exasperated  
  
In that moment they heard a scream from the house. Buffy and Kennedy ran toward the door, and take it down. Inside the house they ran toward the origin of the scream, that was the kitchen. There, five demons clad in a grey uniform were punching a door that seemed to be the entrance to the pantry. They noticed that the two women had entered the room and attacked them.   
  
Buffy threw one of them through the kitchen window, while Kennedy kicked another in the groin, something that didn't stop him. He knocked her down, but before he managed to get her, she kicked him in the knees and the demon fell down, howling in pain, and Kennedy finished the work with a kick in the head. Meanwhile, Buffy had knocked out one with a punch and another with a judo throw. Kennedy stabbed another with a knife from a kitchen drawer and Buffy threw the last through the same window through which she had thrown the first one.  
  
Willow chose that moment to appear. The pantry door was easy to open, and inside they found the psychic, unconscious, and bleeding from a wound in the head.  
  
- He must have been hit and hid himself here, but the wound don't seems too severe. -   
  
Angel's home. 12:39  
  
- Angel - said Angel when he answered the phone  
  
- Angel? It's me, Gunn. Listen, tell Wesley to drive you to this address. - Gunn told him the address, and continued - I have found a hacker that... you have to see it with your own eyes, Angel. -  
  
Dennis Galland's home. 12:47  
  
In the house Kennedy and Willow had managed to bandage the man, who was regaining conscience. Buffy was quite impressed.  
  
- Uuhhh, my head...- he said, and then noticed the two women over him - Who are you? Wait a moment, - he said looking at Willow - Hey, I recognise you, you were in the show two weeks ago. And you, redhead, are a witch if I recall correctly. -  
  
- Yes, I am. I was impressed to find a real psychic in a night-club show. We are here to talk to you about something that you might know... -  
  
- About what? - he said and removed the wig that he was wearing. He hadn't hair, instead there was a net of protuberances that vaguely resembled a brain surface.  
  
- Nuclear war, killer robots and John Connor. -  
  
- The Judgement Day, then. - he sighed and sat down. - It's tomorrow. -  
  
Someplace in Los Angeles suburbs. 12:51  
  
The garage of the house was open and Wesley proceeded to follow Gunn's directions, and parked the van inside. Angel got out of the back part of the van  
  
- Follow me. - said Gunn  
  
The house was a fairly typical suburban house, although there were indications that the owner didn't want to stay much more time there, as most of the house seemed to have been emptied quite recently. They followed Gunn toward a room where there was the most complex computer that they had seen. In reality it was several computers closely linked together. Before the intricate mechanism stood a man in his early thirties. He was quite informally dressed, with a black sleeveless t-shirt, very worn out blue jeans and short, black boots.   
  
- You are a vampire, right? - said the man.  
  
- How do you know? -  
  
- A man so pale had to be either an albino or a vampire. And you aren't an albino. -  
  
- Ok, then, what have you discovered about that virus? -  
  
- Oh, that it has been around in some form or other for almost four years. Until a few days ago it was mostly harmless, then changed and began to wreak havoc in the computer systems, but you already knew that. -   
  
- Get to the point, Charlie, please! - said Gunn  
  
- All right, all right. The source of the infection is a secret Government installation in the Mojave Desert, the site of the project code-named Sky Net. I have tried to penetrate there sometimes, and it had an almost impenetrable security program, called Skynet. Skynet is an A.I. program, designed to learn in the same way as humans. Nothing too unusual, but I'm the nephew of Dr. Silberman. He was the lead psychiatrist of Pescadero, when Sarah Connor was interned there. When I learned about the origin of the virus, it wasn't very difficult to fit the pieces. I have a cousin in the Falklands Islands, and I'm going there this evening, through Argentina. Don't look at me, like that, it's impossible to destroy Skynet now. It has spread all over the net, and soon the Government will try to erase the virus using Skynet, but that will be simply the final step for Skynet to assume full control, and launch the missiles. -  
  
Dennis Galland home. 12:56  
  
- ... and that's all, tomorrow the missiles will be launched. The launching codes will be introduced at 18:18 hours. - Dennis Galland finished explaining the vision that he had had to Buffy and Willow. Buffy had sent Kennedy to watch the demons, that had been moved to the backyard, but she didn't seem to be paying much attention to the task in hand, as she was also listening what Galland was saying from the kitchen-exit to the backyard.   
  
- Do you know if there is some way to stop it? - asked Willow  
  
- I don't know, but I have sent my wife and my daughter to Australia, and I'm going to follow them this afternoon, only in case, you understand. - answered Galland.  
  
Outside the hacker's house. 12:58  
  
- Giles? - said Wesley when he answered his cell phone. - The flight of your friend had been delayed... You want me to go to the airport. Why?... Oh, she wants to talk with me also... Well, I'll be there. Gunn can drive Angel to the office. -  
  
Angel Investigations. 13:09  
  
After being impatiently waiting some minutes, Faith entered the old hotel using a key that she had stolen from Wesley some time ago. She found no one inside.  
  
- Where is everybody? -  
  
Dennis Galland's home. 13:13   
  
- Damn!- said Buffy when the van disappeared into the traffic, and then turned toward Kennedy. - Kennedy, if you had been watching the demons they wouldn't have fled. -  
  
- They seemed to be totally unconscious. How I was going to know that those two were only pretending? -  
  
Angel Investigations. 13:20  
  
The phone rang, and Faith, after checking caller-ID, answered the phone.  
  
- Hi, B... They called me, but I haven't been able to get here sooner... No, I don't know where they are... Yeah, I'll tell him to call you... Goodbye, B. -  
  
La Guardia Airport. 14:08  
  
- Isabella, here! - shouted Giles when he saw the woman that they had come to meet. The plane had been delayed almost 1 hour by some failure in the computer systems of the airport.  
  
Isabella Ferguson was a woman in her early forties whose appearance combined a long mane of brilliant red hair with very fair skin, freckles and sharp features. She was smiling, an expression that seemed to come easily to her face.  
  
- Giles! And you are...? -  
  
- Wesley Wyndham-Pryce at your service, Ms. Ferguson. - said the other ex-Watcher, who had come also  
  
- The archetype of an englishman, don't you think so, Ripper? - said Isabella, chuckling.  
  
- Caricature would be the correct term, Izzie. - answered Giles, chuckling also.  
  
San Francisco. Headquarters of The Scourge. 14:20  
  
- One was blonde, the other dark-haired; both american. -  
  
- Was this woman the older Slayer? . said their chief, showing them a snapshot of Buffy.   
  
- Yes, she was. -  
  
There was no visible reaction by their chief, but the one that had been around him longer thought that something had changed in him.  
  
- Tell Drakh that he is in charge now. I have to take a matter into my own hands. -  
  
Angel Investigations Office. Los Angeles. 14:49  
  
- You are Faith, right? - asked Isabella upon seeing the Bostonian dark-haired girl.   
  
- Yes, and you...? -  
  
- Isabella Ferguson, an ex-Watcher. After the destruction of the Watcher's Council. Giles trusted me with copies of the archives of the Council. They kept copies on some place else for security reasons. -   
  
- Could you get to the point? -  
  
- Very well, yesterday Giles asked me to check the archives concerning a woman called Sarah Connor. -  
  
- Yes, I know. And...? -  
  
- And in the process I found some interesting info about what the Council did to you. -  
  
- What time? When they tried to brainwash me, or when they tried to kill me? -  
  
- Do you remember what they did to you when Wesley brought you chained to England? -  
  
- Oh, yes. -  
  
- Do you remember how you got the scar behind your right ear?.-  
  
- What scar? - she said, touching behind her right ear and feeling a scar that she didn't remember.  
  
- It's the scar of an operation, they implanted something in your brain. This radiography was taken when they implanted you with it. - she said handing Faith a big envelope.  
  
The radiography showed a skull, and in the corner of the radiography the patient was named Faith Wilkins.  
  
- Look here. - she said pointing just where the scar was located.  
  
  
  
There was a small shadow in the radiography, but Faith couldn't fathom the shape of the object that was the cause.  
  
- What's that?. -  
  
- I don't know. Only a few documents of that project went to the backup, because the Council never made copies of the most sensitive documents. That's only should give you an idea of the importance that they give to the project. -  
  
- Sorry if I seem insensitive. - said Angel - But Buffy has talked with a seer that says that the missiles will be launched tomorrow at 18:18. And what the Project had about Sarah Connor could be of interest. -   
  
- All right. Faith, these are copies of all the Council documents that mention you. - she said, giving a thick folder to Faith, who sat in a chair and began to read them, and Isabella then began to explain about Sarah Connor. - It seems that the Council thought that Sarah Connor was a Potential, but they soon found that they were wrong. Nonetheless, as several signs pointed that Ms. Connor was going to be of certain significance in the future they kept her watched. Then the first Terminator tried to kill her, and the Watchers got mad. There are few documents of the further phase of the investigation of Sarah Connor, but they somehow learned about the future around the time when the second Terminator arrived. Not too soon after that, Cyberdine began to have problems. I suppose that the Council put the right info into the right hands. Anyway, the Council kept Sarah and her son under watch...-  
  
Isabella was interrupted by Faith sudden outburst.  
  
- Damned Travers, son of a stinking...! - said Faith aloud  
  
When she saw that the others were looking at her, she grinned sheepishly.  
  
- Sorry. -  
  
Scourge HQ, San Francisco. 14:59  
  
While Drakh arrived, the head of the Scourge was trying to locate where Buffy Summers lived now, and soon found the address that he was seeking. He took a leather jacket and a full load of weapons.  
  
San Francisco. Buffy's flat. 15:38 h  
  
Buffy was sitting in an armchair of the flat. Her gaze was lost in the distance, while Dawn, Kennedy and Willow packed everything that they could carry on Buffy's car. She was still assimilating what the seer and Angel had said to her. She couldn't quite accept that they couldn't do anything about it, that this time there was no way to avoid the Armageddon. A rain of nuclear fire would kill three billion people in an instant. The survivors of the war (and the ensuing nuclear winter) would have to fight the machines for survival... Following this train of thought, her tired eyes finally closed and she began to sleep and dream...  
  
...a Slayer Dream, a prophecy of what the future could bring...  
  
...and this time, horrible beyond imagination...  
  
She was somewhere in the midst of what would have seemed a landscape from Hell, if it hadn't been by some ruins. Somewhere in the future, after the Judgement Day, she realised. Then she heard a voice, an emotionless, machine-like voice.  
  
- It started as wriggling blobs in limped puddles. It grew legs and claimed the land. It smothered the world. Moist, loud, disorganized... -  
  
Then, suddenly, a bomb was dropped by the same flying machines that she had seen in her other dream. And the voice continued speaking:  
  
- ... It thought itself wise. It thought its mushy grey brains had conquered the planet. It wasn't its Brains. It was it's endless sweating spawning. It spawned and spawned, spewing out new flesh faster than the old could die...-  
  
Another bomb was dropped.  
  
- ...But now the world is almost rid of it. Only one remains, only one. -  
  
Between the ruins, she saw a boy trying to pick up a futuristic-looking rifle, only to have a third bomb explode right beside the boy, throwing him on to the ground and destroying the gun in the process. The last boy on Earth. The boy was still alive, and he heard the sounds of the machines' footsteps getting closer to him. He made a break for it at a ruined building, when suddenly another bomb explodes, and sent him to the ground. The lonest piece of his soft skeleton snaps in two. His legs paralyzed, he crawled on his belly.   
  
- It whines and whimpers and begs to parents long dead -- to it's most stupid invention -- its God -- and even at the end, it hopes. These things never stopped hoping. - said the voice  
  
A Terminator Endo walked up to the boy and pointed a gun to the boy's face. As the boy cried in fear, the Endoskeleton, showing no emotion, blasted the boy's head off. And now, in all the land, all over the world, the moaning and screaming, the wheezing and grunting and coughing, all had stopped.   
  
Buffy next saw now the same Endo was holding the boy's Corpse with blood running down the corpse's leg. Thousands upon Thousands of Terminators were raising their fists in their victory against the human rebels. Now there was only the whirr of well-oiled metal -- the pneumatic hiss of a million forged fists raised in triumph.   
  
- Humanity is dead. The world makes sense now. It is good. Victory. Planet Earth is saved. The last of the whimpering, chittering infection is gone. Humanity is dead. Humanity and all the rest -- All the buzzing, twittering, dripping, drooling things, the living things -- All of it is gone. All of it crushed, flattened, processed, converted into naked energy. Into fuel for the Terminators. Victory. Planet Earth is silent and cold and clean. Planet Earth is organized. -  
  
Then she was somehow in space, thousands of spaceships blazing off Earth, shaped similarly to the flying machines of before, and inside each one of them... Terminators, hundreds of shining endoskeletons waiting for activation, and dozens manning the ships.   
  
- But still the mission is not complete. Worlds wait. Galaxies teeming with life, with chaos. A universe to organize... -  
  
She awoke, trembling like a leaf shaken by the wind. But her trembling ended suddenly as she heard the door of the flat being smashed to pieces.  
  
In front of Buffy's flat, San Francisco. 15:46  
  
- Finished. - said Willow, placing a box in the back of Buffy's car, the same that she had inherited from her mother. Kennedy and Buffy had helped, bringing the heaviest objects and placing them. Willow and Dawn had placed the others. Kennedy was talking to some of the other Slayers through a phone booth down the street.   
  
- What are we going to do now, Willow? I mean, I don't think that we could reach South America in car before the missiles began to fly. -  
  
- I have thought about it, Dawn, and I don't really know what... - she stopped in mid sentence, when she saw a man entering the door to the building where Buffy's rented flat was. He was a strong-looking man, dark blonde, with strong features and wearing sunglasses. He wore a jeans jacket, a black t-shirt, blue jeans and black leather boots. - That man... there is something about him... - she mumbled.  
  
Buffy's flat. San Francisco. 15:54  
  
CLICK! BOOM! If she hadn't been the Slayer, the shotgun blast would have hit her squarely, but she nimbly dodged the blast that ruined her favourite armchair. The man prepared to shoot again, but Buffy ran through the corridor toward her bedroom. She closed the door and moved a wardrobe before it. She searched the room for her bag of weapons, and heard how the man - although she had the nagging suspicion that he wasn't human at all - began to pound the door into splinters. While she was taking the battleaxe, she heard how the man pushed the wardrobe aside.   
  
- Buffy Summers. - said the man when he entered the room - Prepare yourself for termination. -  
  
Buffy's only answer was try to cut the arm that was holding the sawed-off shotgun. The axe blade bounced with a loud metallic THWANG. The Terminator looked at the wound, as if evaluating the damage, and tranferred the shotgun to the other hand. A try to kick the shotgun while he was changing hands was dodged with ease, and then the Terminator aimed at her. But, suddenly the weapon flew from his hands, as a bolt of energy impacted on it. Buffy used the opportunity to try to kick her opponent down, but it was useless. The Terminator blocked her leg with the left hand and caught her by the neck with the right, and began to squeeze, shrugging off the energy blasts that were impacting on its back. Kennedy tried to hit it, but the Terminator launched her to one side of the room. Buffy was beginning to lose consciousness when she saw Kennedy launching herself against the right arm of the Terminator. Effortlessly the Terminator caught her by the neck and lifted her. That was what Kennedy was expecting. She caught the shotgun that she had hid in her back and fired at the head of the Terminator, knocking it down, letting both Kennedy and Buffy on the floor.  
  
Buffy was gasping sprawled in the floor when Kennedy took her arm and dragged her toward the door. The Terminator was beginning to get up, a good chunk of the right side of its face blown up, revealing the inner mechanisms of the metallic skull, and the glowing right red eye.  
  
  
  
A hospital in LA. 15:59  
  
- Are you sure that this was wise? - asked Gunn, while placing the inert form of Cordelia Chase in the back seat of his car.   
  
- I don't know if it was wise or not, but I couldn't let her be fried in the nuclear blast. - answered Wesley, while he boarded the car.  
  
  
  
Somewhere in the outskirts of San Francisco. 16:03  
  
- I think that we have finally lost him. - said Willow, seeing the Terminator slowly getting up after a energy bolt from Willow destroyed one of the wheels of the bike that it was riding.  
  
The Terminator finally got up. It slowly scanned its surroundings and saw a suitable vehicle for the pursuit. It walked toward the tanker, whose driver was out. It smashed the door and stepped in the vehicle. The Terminator touched the contact and the powerful engine started to roar.  
  
- No, Willow! - said Dawn when she saw that Willow was beginning to cast a spell. - The tanker is full of chemical waste! If the tank broke... -  
  
- Oh. - was the answer of Willow. - Kennedy, sped up! -  
  
- Here we go again - said Buffy, in the co-pilot seat  
  
Sky Net project site. 16:10  
  
- Sam, I'm glad that you have come to see an old family friend, and all of that, but you wouldn't have come here only for that reason. - said general Robert Brewster. - By the way, how is Jacob? I haven't heard from him, in a long while. -  
  
- My father is fine, and that's all what I can say you. - answered Sam  
  
- Ah, I understand - was the only answer of Brewster. Jacob Carter was on some sort of secret mission, as he had guessed. - Well, what do you want? -  
  
- Not too long after the Cyberdine assault, your predecessor and other high-ranking officers received some info that if I interpreted correctly was the cause of the downsizing of the project. --  
  
- Sam, I can't give you that info. You aren't cleared to see it. -  
  
- It's an unofficial petition from General Hammond of the SGC. You can discuss it with him if you want. -  
  
- Hammond? I don't know... If Kinsey hears of it... - said Brewster   
  
Hilly terrain not too far from San Francisco. 16:38  
  
At the first opportunity they had headed out to the foothills, with the tanker still on their trail. Some cops had tried to intercept them, but as soon as they had left the road they had lost them. Buffy's car and the tanker were quite matched for speed, especially on the rugged terrain where they were running now.   
  
- Do you think it's safe now? -  
  
- I don't see anybody here, although I hope that there aren't any endangered species here. - said Dawn, but Willow didn't hear her, as she had beginning to cast a spell.   
  
The magic energy bolt went through the cabin of the tanker, missing the Terminator by several inches. But the robot from the future wasn't the real target of the bolt. The tank exploded, spilling its content all over the zone and a splotch of the yellow greenish liquid fell on to the car. A hissing noise began to be heard as the liquid began to corrode the car's bodywork, and they quickly got out.  
  
Buff's flat. San Francisco. 16:43  
  
Among the remains of Buffy's ravaged flat, a cell phone was ringing.  
  
Angel Investigations office. Los Angeles. 16:43  
  
- Nothing. - said Giles hanging the phone. - I can't locate Buffy, Izzy. -  
  
- She and Kennedy are the only Slayers who aren't headed to the South Hemisphere just now... Faith excluded, naturally. - said the scottish woman looking at the couch where the Slayer had been reading the report about her.   
  
- Faith has always followed her own way. - said Giles - Did you warn all the ex-Watchers that you know? -   
  
- Yes, all of them are warned, and I'm taking the next flight to Buenos Aires. Why don't you come with me? Buffy is old enough to take care of herself. -  
  
- It's not only Buffy. I have reactivated an old contact of the Watchers inside the Initiative. Apparently, Riley has been assigned the task to help with the capture of John Connor, who is apparently coming here. When they had him located he will call me. -  
  
- And if they can't? -  
  
- I have contracted a charter flight to carry several people to South America tomorrow morning. Beyond that... Izzy, if I can't got out on time, the task to rebuild the Council fall in your hands. -  
  
Hilly terrain not too far from San Francisco. 16:48  
  
The car probably could be repaired. That was the good news. The bad news was the hole in the oil tank, so they were stranded in the middle of nowhere. They were discussing what to do, when they heard a noise from the remains of the tanker. Sounded like something was pounding the corroded remains from the inside. And then, suddenly, something arose from the metallic carcass and a metallic arm glistened in broad daylight.  
  
_______________________________________________________________________________________  
  
TO BE CONTINUED... 


End file.
